There are known various structures for securing hinges to doors and door frames of both wood and metal. In wooden doors in particular, it is not uncommon for the hinge to become loose after prolonged use. The screws used to hold the hinge in place are generally pulled free of the door or door jamb leaving larger holes than originally created by the screws. Therefore, to reattach the hinge, the door or door jamb needs to be repaired in order to reattach the hinge. In some instances, the hinge cannot be located in its original position because of damage to the door and jamb. In these cases the hinge is relocated and attached to a new portion on the door. The door needs to be cut out in the new location in order to accommodate the thickness of the hinge to be located thereon.
Several hinge reinforcement devices have been patented but none of them provide the utility offered by the present invention. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,027 (DiFazio) a horizontally-adjustable door hinge is disclosed. DiFazio suggests using a hinge structure having a back plate 30 which is used as a backup plate to elongated plate 25. This combination of plates fits along the vertical edge of the door frame to facilitate the horizontal adjustment of the door. The hinge is then attached to these plates to adjust the alignment. The problem approached by DiFazio is to correct doorways that are out of plumb, that is, the jambs, header and sill sections of the frame may be out of square alignment. This condition is caused by structures that are misaligned because of settling or shifting of the basic structure. DiFazio's structure cannot be used as a repair kit because the thickness of his combined structure would render the door non-functional unless it was out of horizontal alignment.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,597 (Maggart) an adjustable hinge mount is disclosed for use on metal doors and door frames. The door frame 20 is part of the door body which has a cutout portion 62. A reinforcing plate or flat bracket member 90 is inserted inside the door covering the opening 62. Bracket 90 is then attached to the inside of the door and a hinge 40 is then attached to the bracket 90. Again, Maggart's device is used primarily to correct the alignment of a pre-hung door. Also, Maggart can only be used on metal doors since a hollow door is required for use of internally-secured bracket 90. To use the Maggart device one would cut a hole in the metal door or door jamb in order to slip the bracket 90 inside the door for adjustment. This procedure is relatively complex especially for the non-professional who is not accustomed to metal work and metal cutting.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,286 (Schwarz, II) a hinge preparation assembly for a steel door frame is disclosed. The hinge cutouts or mortises in a frame or door are covered over by the Schwarz assembly. There are interior plates that are first attached to the interior of the door covering the mortises. The hinge is then connected onto these plates. The hinge preparation assembly includes a hinge reinforcement member with a plurality of spaced apart threaded openings for mounting a leaf of a standard hinge set. The hinge reinforcement is converted from a standard weight hinge preparation to a heavyweight hinge preparation. Again, usage of the Schwarz assembly is somewhat complicated for the non-professional and requires knowledge of metal-working to be effective. It is not the type of assembly that can easily be used by the do-it-yourselfer. Also, it cannot be used on wooden doors to reinforce loose hinges or make existing hinges more secure.